DuKode Studio

The DuKode Studio focuses on creative data transposition to many forms, including software, animation, print, and physical objects. It specializes in spatial visualization and wearable prototypes.

DuKode's project, MindRider, is a brain-reading bike helmet system that generates new kinds of health data and health sense-making at the individual and regional scale. Every MindRider helmet employs a distinctive combination of two head-based wearable technologies, the bike helmet and the EEG (electroencephalography) sensor, giving users new insight into their mental experiences as they ride.

The MindRider team, based at The DuKode Studio in Brooklyn, has extensive material experience, ranging from traditional techniques in wood/ceramics/yarns, to innovative techniques with 3D modeling/milling/printing and industrial/computational/conductive knitting. For Eyebeam, the MindRider team will introduce some of these fabrication techniques to MindRider, thus transitioning the helmet from the MIT Media Lab, where it originated, to Eyebeam’s design atelier, with the aim of creating an aesthetically and ergonomically enjoyable wearable. One experiment will explore computational knitting with conductive strands to fashion malleable KCBs (knitted circuit boards) as an alternative to inflexible PCBs.

Arlene Ducao is DuKode's Co-Founder, a Research Fellow at the MIT International Development Initiative, and a Team Member of the E14 Fund, a spinoff of the MIT Media Lab. She is MindRider's lead coordinator and makes a lot of headgear. Her background is in computer science and art (M.Sc. Massachusetts Institute of Technology; MFA School of Visual Arts; B.Sc. University of Maryland, B.M. University of Maryland).

Ilias Koen is DuKode's Co-Founder and also a Sensemaking Research Fellow at MIT IDI. He is MindRider's tech lead on both hardware and software. He's interested in technologies and art forms that can enhance visual cognition. He is also a printmaker, ceramicist, and woodworker with a background in computer science and art (MFA School of Visual Arts, BFA Athens School of Fine Arts, Greece).

Josue Diaz III, a clothing designer who specializes in conceptual knitwear, joined DuKode to develop MindRider's wearability and aesthetics. He is interested in exploring the future of computational textiles. He studied at Politecnico di Milano in Italy, and holds a BFA from the Fashion Institute of Technology.